Structure and Content
The piece consist of a single movement, lasting around 10–13 minutes, and is marked as follows:
- Allegro
Additional markings provide clues to the different moods Scriabin intended to convey throughout the work, such as "mystérieusement sonore", or "avec une sombre majesté". The sonata's recurrent harmony is first presented melodically by the theme marked "avec une céleste volupté". Like the sixth, the seventh sonata is full of violent contrasts, complex counterpoint, advanced tritonal harmonies, and rippling, incandescent arpeggios.
The chords imitating the ringing of bells were a favorite of Scriabin's. According to Leonid Sabaneyev, when Scriabin himself played these chords, the ringing sounded from near and afar at the same time; a part of them sounded very real, while another sounded like an echo.
Read more about this topic: Piano Sonata No. 7 (Scriabin)
Famous quotes containing the words structure and/or content:
“A special feature of the structure of our book is the monstrous but perfectly organic part that eavesdropping plays in it.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“You can hardly convince a man of an error in a life-time, but must content yourself with the reflection that the progress of science is slow. If he is not convinced, his grandchildren may be. The geologists tell us that it took one hundred years to prove that fossils are organic, and one hundred and fifty more to prove that they are not to be referred to the Noachian deluge.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)